WASHINGTON - If money talks in politics, conservative activists are shouting that the hotly contested Texas Senate runoff race between conservative insurgent Ted Cruz and Austin powerhouse David Dewhurst is the most important Republican race in the country.

Federal Election Commission records analyzed by the Houston Chronicle indicate that Cruz, the former Texas solicitor general who has targeted his own party's establishment in a noisy nomination battle, has raked in more money from conservative super PACs than any other Senate candidate in the nation, $3.8 million.

While Dewhurst, the state's lieutenant governor and the early favorite, has raised more than 90 percent of his campaign cash in Texas, Cruz has pocketed 35 percent of his proceeds from outside the state. The tea party favorite from Houston has received more than $1.5 million from more than 1,000 donors outside of the Lone Star State.

Aiding Cruz's quest for campaign cash is a long list of endorsements from national conservative superstars, including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, Fox TV host Sean Hannity, former presidential candidate Rick Santorum and former Reagan administration Attorney General Ed Meese.

The 41-year-old Cruz received donations from every state in the union except for the liberal bastion of Vermont. Dewhurst has scored just $180,800 in contributions from 88 people in 20 other states and Washington, D.C.

While Dewhurst, 66, has outraised Cruz so far this year, $18.4 million to $5.8 million, Cruz has an 8-to-1 edge beyond the borders of Texas.

Cruz's top out-of-state sources of funding were the political action committees of Washington, D.C., and conservative individuals in northern Virginia and California, where he has accumulated more than 230 contributors each. Other top sources of Cruz funding are Florida, New York and Illinois.

Dewhurst and his most prominent supporter, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, have tried to make Cruz's prolific out-of-state fundraising a political liability, decrying "Washington special interests" trying to buy a Texas Senate seat.

But Cruz's broad fundraising base prompted Dewhurst to take $6 million more out of his personal fortune last month. Dewhurst led the May 29 primary with 45 percent of the vote, while Cruz received 34 percent. They meet in a July 31 runoff.

The only other campaign in the country to come close to Cruz in national conservative interest is the Indiana Senate race, where insurgent Richard Mourdock ousted 36-year incumbent Richard Lugar with the help of $3.2 million in super PAC funds.

Trying to diversify

In Texas, the $3.8 million already poured into the race include $1.3 million designed to directly support Cruz's candidacy and $2.5 from the anti-tax Club for Growth specifically targeting Dewhurst.

"We're supporting Ted Cruz because he's a champion of economic liberty," said Club for Growth spokesman Barney Keller.

Cruz has benefited from clusters of contributions in heavily Democratic states such as California and New York, where right-leaning donors have fewer candidates with a chance of winning.

"Wealthy conservatives have a lot of money to spend and are willing to use it to promote their views," said George C. Edwards III, a Texas A&M University political scientist.